Blues supergroup The Rides set tour itinerary

Legendary singer-songwriter Stephen Stills (of Buffalo Springfield/CSN/CSN&Y fame) has joined forces with with fellow guitar slinger Kenny Wayne Shepherd and venerable Electric Flag keyboardist Barry Goldberg to form a new blues-rock supergroup “The Rides”. Touring in support of their forthcoming debut album, the band will make their Massachusetts debut when they perform together at the Wilbur Theatre in Boston on Saturday, September 7. Tickets for the show are available through Ticketmaster for $55 and $65.

Can’t Get Enough, The Rides’ debut album, will be released on August 27. Featuring four co-written originals, a handful of covers, and a vintage, previously unrecorded Stills gem “Can’t Get Enough” was inspired by – and is an homage to – the now classic 1968 album Super Session, which featured Stills on guitar on one side, and the late Mike Bloomfield on the other.

The project began with Stills and Goldberg writing together at their mutual manager Elliot Roberts’ recommendation. Shepherd soon followed. The album was recorded live in the studio over the course of about a week at EastWest in Los Angeles, helmed by long-time Shepherd producer Jerry Harrison (Talking Heads, Modern Lovers). In addition to Chris Layton, Shepherd’s drummer, and also a veteran of Stevie Ray Vaughn’s Double Trouble, the album features bassist Kevin McCormick (CSN, Jackson Browne).

“The Rides are a perfect mix of generations, where three musicians who love and play the blues collide and create music that goes beyond all our other individual life experiences and career achievement,” explained Shepherd in a press release. “Stephen and I have rock backgrounds as well, but the blues is the fabric that holds this all together.”

“In the spirit of that simple, raw authentic 40s and 50s blues music the three of us love, we got in there and boom! A few takes and we were done,” said Stills. “The songs have muscle; they don’t sound dated or contrived. They’re very natural and organic. I can’t wait to tour with these guys and start recording again.”